K-cure: South Korea’s booming market for traditional (and novel) hangover remedies

K-cure: South Korea’s booming market for traditional (and novel) hangover remedies

Hovenia dulcis - known in Korean as heotgae – has become the cornerstone of South Korea’s booming hangover cure industry“Eighteen years ago, people didn’t even know the name of this ingredient,” says 58-year-old Gil Sa-hyeon, holding up a cluster of dried brownish stems. “Now it’s everywhere.”His shop, Joseon Yakcho, sits in the heart of Seoul’s Yangnyeongsi Market, South Korea’s largest traditional medicinal herb market, its streets lined with …